The Virginia Coalition is a diverse group of current Southside Virginia job creators who are concerned about the health of our employees and workforce, as well as our future ability to recruit new companies and employees into the region given the health implications of uranium mining. We are CEO's, business owners, entrepreneurs, economic developers and current and former legislators who have a simple request: READ The Reports before voting on a matter with such far reaching ramifications.

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The Roanoke River Basin Association has released what it calls a list of "potential uranium exploration and mining sites in Pittsylvania County" following a search of public records.

The group has successfully tied Marline Corp.'s efforts in the 1980s to secure mineral rights to county land with the possibility that Virginia will soon allow uranium mining all over the state.

"I was an attorney for the now defunct Marline Corp. and in those days Marline identified dozens of sites for uranium exploration and possibly future mining," former county supervisor Hank Davis said in a news release. "County residents should be concerned about the health, environmental and economic impacts of not just the Coles Hill site but at least three feasible mining locations spread throughout the county."

Organizers of an anti-uranium fund-raiser held Saturday night at the farm of Del. James Edmunds said they were thrilled with the turnout, the breadth of community support for their cause and the amount of money raised. But Virginia Coalition president John Cannon may have offered the most succinct wrap-up of the night:

“We sent a helluva message,” said Cannon.

The event drew more than 450 people for a night of music, comedy, food and drink under crisp starry skies, nestled amid the rolling hills of Edmunds’ River Road farm. Tickets sales and corporate sponsorships alone raised $100,000, and organizers expected tens of thousands of dollars more to roll in from auctions held throughout the night.

The money will go to pay for lobbying efforts in Richmond, anti-uranium advertising and, later, when the General Assembly takes up the state’s moratorium on mining — as it is expected to do in the 2013 session — grassroots demonstrations at the Capitol, “should the need arise,” said Edmunds.

The Coalition is making plans to bus its supporters to Richmond if the legislature goes ahead and schedules a vote to lift the state’s three-decades-old mining ban.